


Encyclopedia Thalassica (1st Edition)

by tyrellia



Category: World of Warcraft
Genre: Azeroth, Gen, Headcanon, Jossan Dawnheart, Warcraft - Freeform, World of Warcraft - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:20:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28461570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tyrellia/pseuds/tyrellia
Summary: An encylopedia by Jossan Dawnheart, Thalassian historian and anthropologist. Unusually for works by blood elven scholars, Thalassica strives for an objective perspective.A collection of interpretations of WoW lore and worldbuilding headcanons to fill in the gaps in canon worldbuilding.Encyclopedia Thalassica and its contents can be used verbatim and by name by anyone who wants to, provided they give credit, preferably by citing my AO3 page or Encyclopedia Thalassica on WorldAnvil.1st Edition includes unpolished notes. Eventually I’ll post a 2nd Edition with a more realistic format for an encyclopedia and fewer breaks for OOC explanations.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Encyclopedia Thalassica (1st Edition)

The upper classes of Quel'Thalas have gone through enormous changes since the Fall of Quel'Thalas and the abolishment of the Convocation. Combined with the interregnal government being, for all intents and purposes, a dictatorship of military officers and bureaucrats under the autocratic command of Regent-Lord Theron (himself a military officer), Quel'Thalas went from oligarchy to meritocracy almost overnight, gutting the traditional privileges of the aristocracy, leaving only vestigial status symbols such as the right to bear arms in public places and limited autonomy from Magistry governance (but not Magistry oversight) within their own territory.

That being said, some things have not not changed, including the general landscape of high society. While the Convocation of Silvermoon has been abolished, the same politicking they engaged in to influence the magnates comprising that august body translates rather well to trying to arrange for allies and relatives to rise through the ranks of the military or Magistry. Naturally, it is considered very tacky to be obvious about this, so care is taken to be subtle.

Another custom that remained relatively intact is the peculiar pseudo-feudal system of clientage. If you are not from a traditionally noble family, or if you want to rise in station, the easiest and most common way to do so is to seek the patronage of a noble of higher status, becoming their client - roughly equivalent to a vassal in a true feudal system. 

Clientage becomes very important when determining rank and precedence, as both are more or less customary, and do not have legal force behind them. The law makes no distinction between one noble and another, and titles such as "baron" or "count" are affectations of the holders meant to reflect their status relative to their peers and their relationship with clients - a “Count” might be the patron of a “Baron,” for example. Indeed, when these titles show up on legal documents at all it is usually in relation to something tangible. For example, a deed may refer to a property as a "barony" or a "county." The fact that nobility is not derived from land ownership may play a role in this; a family is not noble because it owns land, it is noble because they have a certificate of pedigree that says they are noble. Rising to the nobility requires a noble of higher station to give them a subsidiary title,[2] with the newly ennobled House becoming a pseudo-vassal of their patron. In this case, they rely on their patron for their status, and the patron is responsible for the conduct of their client. If the title was granted by the Regent-Lord of Quel’Thalas (acting in lieu of the monarch), the noble answers directly to the government, without a liege or patron as a middleman. Such nobles are called Peers of the Realm or tenants-in-chief. A Peer can be still be a client if their patient was the one that arranged their elevation to the Peerage. 

If the client gains enough recognition of influence and prestige, they may receive a patent of nobility from the Magistry census bureau that makes them a noble in their own right. While this means they no longer derive their status solely from their patron, they are still bound by the obligations of clientage. However, if the patron withdraws their support from a client with letters-patent, the client retains their status. A successful, reputable client brings great prestige to their patron, and receiving letters-patent is a great success indeed. Having a Peer as a client is considered to be a significant gamble - being the patron of a Peer comes with enormous prestige, but arranging for a subsidiary title to be created instead ensures that the patron’s House has hereditary authority over the client’s House, usually in perpetuity and with legal obligations (taxes, military support, etc.) stipulated in the contract attached to the subsidiary title grant.

Titles granted by patents of nobility may be substantive or honorary. A substantive title leases real property, ownership of or stake in a business or productive enterprise, or special privilege such as a pension, trade monopoly, or tax exemption. An honorary title simply establishes the holder as the head of a noble House, with the rights and dignity thereof.

Despite the vestigial similarities to feudalism, the Kingdom of Quel'Thalas is an absolute monarchy, with supreme power vested in the Sun King on the Sun Throne. While it is customary to respect patents of nobility so long as the terms are honored, the Sun Throne retains the right to revoke any title at its own discretion. 

It is rare for a noble house - or, indeed, most any organization - to retain soldiers. What few professional fighters are employed by private interests tend to be either bodyguards or elite security forces to back up the civilian watchmen who provide the bulk of the protection of residences, warehouses, and other properties. The closer one gets to the capital, the less likely one is to encounter personal guards that are for anything but show. It is very rare to have an armed retinue of more than a few dozen, roughy of fifth of which might be professionals. Urban Houses may not employ trained warriors at all, with servants carrying daggers and short swords providing the appearance of security or - in an emergency - stalling for time until the City Guardians arrive.

As one approaches the mountains and Amani country, however, this begins to change. The maintenance of a standing force capable of securing the entirety of the borderlands being extraordinarily difficult and expensive, allowing the local aristocracy to defend their own holdings has always been an attractive prospect. With the martial nobility providing reinforcements, supplies, static garrisons, and fortifications, the Farstriders are free to maintain constant patrols without the need to garrison an extensive network of Enclaves. However, the expense of maintaining military forces and supporting national troops is a heavy burden on the Marcher houses, even with the tax breaks they receive. As a result, they tend to have far fewer liquid assets than their lowland peers.

All privately employed soldiers and armsmen - retainers under arms, keeping and bearing their own weapons and armor - are liable to be conscripted for use by the State. This includes civilians on active duty with the militia. Patents of nobility typically stipulate a maximum number of armsmen permitted under the given title. Nobles are implicitly allowed to maintain an armory sufficient to arm their civilian retainers in an emergency, but it is not uncommon for unruly nobles to be censured for bad behavior by forbidding them from keeping an armory or continuing to train civilian retainers to fight in the future. Landed nobles are typically allowed extensive input on how many armsmen are needed to protect their property and fulfill their obligations to the State, especially among the martial nobility protecting and patrolling the Marches, coast, and the main road from Silvermoon to Thalassian Pass.

Unlanded nobles with substantive titles will typical have a personal bodyguard and two or three for each home or place of business conferred by the title: a day watchman, night watchmen, and a third to either break into three shifts or allow for days off. Nobles that hold titles over merchant concerns, maritime industries, or are required to provide ships to the Thalassian Royal Navy are significant exceptions; merchant lords are permitted to employ as many guards as they need to safely conduct business. Privateer lords are typically allowed to maintain as many armsmen as they need to staff their ships with marines to repel boarding parties and mount cutting-out expeditions. However, the right to retain armsmen is strictly and explicitly tied to their being employed to protect their commercial interests and effectively engage pirates and other enemies of the State, and severe sanctions may apply if they are employed for other purposes. With the exception of armsmen serving in these capacities, merchant lords and titled privateers are permitted roughly the same number of armsmen as other unlanded nobles.

A noble’s untitled siblings, cousins, grandchildren, and younger children of that do not stand to inherit a subsidiary title are termed petty nobility, with a roughly equivalent legal status and equivalent or slightly inferior social status to nobles with an honorary title. The firstborn of a petty noble is a petty noble as well, but their younger children are gentry, described below.

Beneath the nobility the is lesser aristocracy, comprised of the urban patricians, landed gentry [3], and lesser gentry. In common parlance, the entire class of the lesser aristocracy is often referred to as the gentry; these are terms of art used to differentiate between the different classes of the lesser aristocracy. 

Most of the gentry are permitted the right to bear arms in public, but almost none of them are permitted to retain armsmen, and may risk censure if any part-time militiamen in their employ are equipped with armor, shields, or weaponry that cannot be easily worn on the hip: swords, daggers, etc. 

The landed gentry hold their land from a titled noble or in return for serving as the hereditary administrator of a village in the royal demesne. While their letters-patent do not confer nobility, they typically confer their rank and status in perpetuity. It is more common for a gentleman to be relieved of duty than for a noble to be obliged to surrender governance of their holdings to a Magister-administrator, but it also carries less social stigma; it is fairly common for a landed gentleman to request permission to hire an administrator so that they might be free to pursue a career of their own.

Patricians are chiefly involved in scholarly pursuits, commerce, politics, business, and the more prestigious professions: Medicine (but not surgeons), law, and other fields that require more intense training than someone who must do their own housekeeping is capable of. Educated and wealthy enough to employ servants to ensure they do as little work as possible that does not directly relate to their profession, patricians form the backbone of urban society. Patricians typically call themselves gentlemen, gentlewomen, and gentle ladies; the term “patrician” is largely a technical term used by scholars to differentiate them from the landed gentry. 

The lesser gentry are comprised of the family of a gentleman other than their spouse and heir-apparent. While they are entitled to the rights and dignity of their class, they must either rely on their wealthier relative to support a lifestyle that would not shame their family or seek honorable employment elsewhere. While the majority of those practicing the more prestigious professions - medicine, law, upper management in business, etc. - are born into the lesser gentry, most aspire to attract a patron to serve in their household, apprentice under as a Magister, or obtain a commission in their regiment or Farstrider lodge. 

As the restrictions on retaining armsmen does not apply to gentleman that are permitted to bear arms in their own right, they are highly sought-after as bodyguards for nobles and wealthier gentry and patricians; their genteel upbringing and education also makes them ideal companions. Having a large retinue of aristocratic companions is an important status symbol for rich and powerful, and cunning lords immediately see the benefit in employing armed men and women that can mingle seamlessly with other guests at a social occasion. Gentlemen that are not skilled in combat are not quite as sought-after, but their education makes them suitable companions for their patron or chaperones for their children. Noble families often hire the children of impoverished gentry to ensure their own children have friends of appropriate class and education, with parents whose livelihood is conditional on their child being a good influence. 

While the Magisters of Sunfury Spire are rightfully known for their mastery of the arcane, the mundane reality of the Magistry is that the magical aptitude of an apprentice is secondary to their ability to attract an influential patron. War-mages and magical researchers can sometimes make build a career on raw talent, but this is not necessarily true of the Reliquary, for example. The education and social graces expected of the gentry are enormous boons in securing a prestigious apprenticeship, and with some degree of political acumen will open doors that remain shut on commoner apprentices.

Gentlemen that excel at the martial arts - or fail to attract the attention of a patron - often find themselves taking up arms for the Sun Throne as a Guardian or one of the elite military corps such as the Blood Knight Order or one of the more prestigious Farstrider units, or serve in a regiment or Farstrider lodge. While patronage is still highly sought-after among the martial nobility, the flexible nature of Thalassian military doctrine gives newly-minted junior officers ample opportunity to demonstrate their affinity for warfare. Most of the gentry can expect to obtain a junior officer’s commission by virtue of having trained in many of the required skills since childhood. If there  
are no such commissions available, gentry that are too keen to fight to wait for an opening may enlist as a gentleman-ranker, fighting on the lines as a common soldier. Gentleman-rankers typically associate with the officers more than the other common soldiers, eating at the officer’s mess and frequently allowed access to the officer’s club in large outposts. Choosing to become a gentleman-ranker can be a minor scandal, but those that have successfully climbed the ranks often see it as a badge of honor, and a gentleman-ranker that distinguishes themself may attract the patronage of meritocratic officers. 

Nobles often follow the same career paths as the gentry, but can typically expect some degree of patronage. In the past it was common to grant commissions to young nobles based on their birth rather than their aptitude - a practice that, along with the sale of commissions, is generally  
thought to have caused needless casualties during the Second War. While there is still some debate over whether meritocracy is incompatible with the clientage system, it is rare for new recruits in the regiments and regular ranger units and to obtain a commission senior to ensign for combat units and lieutenant for clerical units, and unheard-of in the elite corps to allow recruits to command a squad, let alone a platoon. The Order of Blood Knights and some individual units from other branches have even abolished the distinction between enlisted and commissioned officers, training children of the high nobility side-by-side with commoners and actively encouraging them to fraternize. Whether this trend toward ending the privilege of birth in the martial profession will expand to other services or the civilian world has yet to be seen; for the moment, a glass ceiling continues to support the monopoly of the upper classes on white-collar professions and positions of authority.

**Author's Note:**

> [1] Presumably, a female monarch of Quel’Thalas would be styled Sun Queen.
> 
> [2] A subsidiary title is a title created by creating a new entity from property held under the parent title and given limited autonomy. It differs from a lease in that subsidiary titles involve a patent of nobility and are always held in perpetuity and necessarily imply an explicit patron-client relationship.
> 
> [3] “Gentleman” in an academic context is typically gender-neutral. The feminine equivalent “gentlewoman” is more often reflects a woman of the gentry preferring not to be referred to as a lady. When in the company of nobility, she and her peers would be referred to as “gentle ladies” to differentiate her from noble ladies. 
> 
> —OOC—  
> Regent and viceroy mean roughly the same thing (someone who wields royal authority in the monarch’s absence), and I hate the word “regental.” 
> 
> That is to say, the Regent-Lord is the viceroy of Quel’Thalas, wielding viceroyal authority.


End file.
